Former Mexican president Vicente Fox is condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to trade policies, which left Canada out of a bilateral trade deal between the U.S. and Mexico.
The bilateral deal was announced in place of the North American Free Trade Agreement earlier this week, and has left Canada scrambling to negotiate its own deal with the U.S. by Friday.
Fox made the comments during an exclusive interview with Global News’ Alan Carter on Thursday.
While he said the deal between the U.S. and Mexico was good for Mexico, he agreed there’s now additional pressure put on Canada to agree to the terms.
He said the negotiations had to switch to bilateral instead of trilateral because of, “sorry to say, this stupid guy we have in between us by the name of Trump.”
“He’s making so many mistakes and he’s causing so much problems all around … but at the end, Canada and Mexico will come to an agreement.”
WATCH: Vicente Fox offers advice to Justin Trudeau on negotiating with ‘stupid’ Donald Trump on NAFTA
When asked about Trump’s comments that NAFTA has been unfair to the U.S., Fox ripped into the U.S. president, calling him ignorant on regular trade practices.
“He’s crazy, he lies all day, he doesn’t understand the economy,” Fox said. “He’s ignorant about trade practices. The trade agreement has been great for the three of us.”
He expressed that “everybody trades” and that countries with the highest standards and qualities of living have robust trading strategies and agreements.
“Trump is so ignorant, that he thinks it’s a zero sum, he thinks the United States has to be the winner — stupid! We don’t play marbles in that game if we’re not going to get something to us, something for them,” he said.
That’s something other foreign officials have agreed with: earlier Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made similar comments.
“A lot of people, like me, feel that the U.S. is first in the world when it comes to twisting the truth, and irresponsible and absurd logic,” Hua told a press briefing about trade policies, AFP reports.
“This logic is not easily understood by all.”
Fox also said he didn’t think Trump was “humane.”
“I’ve never seen him embracing a black child. I have never seen him feeling sorrow for those kids who die on the Mediterranean Sea, running away from violence or from hunger or from disease,” he explained.
“He’s not a human being. Don’t defend him!”
Asked if using such strong language to describe Trump is an effective tactic against him, he said he was defending himself, and his fellow Mexicans.
“I know how to defend myself, especially in front of a guy who calls us rapists, who calls us criminals. You have to stop him,” he said.
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